OVERLAND PARK, Kan.—Sprint PCS signed a letter of intent with eOne Global, an affiliate of electronic payment provider First Data Corp., to establish a mobile payment network enabling customers to make purchases and payments with their wireless devices.A similar plan was recently announced by...
LONDON—Vodafone Group plc said it increased it ownership of China Mobile Hong Kong to 3.27 percent from 2.18 percent by subscribing US$750 million for new ordinary shares in the Chinese operator. China Mobile will use the proceeds to help finance its proposed acquisition of...
STOCKHOLM, Sweden—Wireless giant Ericsson continued to lead the multimedia messaging service infrastructure industry through its new deal with T-Mobile. T-Mobile will use Ericsson's MMS center to launch services in its Hungary market and plans to roll out similar services in its German, Austrian and...
Wireless stock prices around the world have taken a beating lately. Vodafone Group has most noticeably suffered investors’ wrath and is now trading at less than a pound. To make matters worse, its shares fell an additional 5 percent last week after Goldman Sachs...
OXFORD, United Kingdom—European cell-phone operators seem in no rush to sign General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) roaming agreements with their counterparts over fears of technology mismatches. Given that GPRS services are targeted at corporate users, industry analysts are blaming this absence of cross-border roaming...
LUXEMBOURG—Mach said Omnitel Vodafone agreed to renew its contract for Mach clearinghouse and roaming. services. Omnitel has used Mach's services since it launched service in Italy.The value of the contract was not disclosed.
OXFORD, United Kingdom—Following its successful cell-phone investments in Croatia and Slovenia, Mobilkom, part of the former state monopoly Telekom Austria, admitted that it is investigating further investments in Eastern Europe, especially given that mobile penetration in its home market of Austria is more than...
OXFORD, United Kingdom—Looking to set an example to other European governments, Maurizio Gasparri, the Italian communication minister, has called upon European Union (EU) member states to consider third-generation (3G) bandwidth trading, as it will shortly be permitted in Italy. The minister said the government...
WELLINGTON, New Zealand—New Zealand plans to auction additional spectrum by mid-year for wireless local loop, local multipoint distribution services and cellular services under revised rules from the country's last auction of third-generation spectrum, according to the country's communications minister.The country will auction nine blocks...
LONDON—Vodafone Group plc said it added 1.3 million proportionate net subscribers during the first quarter, ending the quarter with 101.1 million worldwide proportionate customers. The company noted the lackluster net additions were due to seasonal factors and the disconnection in some European markets of...
TOKYO—J-Phone, a Vodafone Group operator in Japan, announced it will postpone its third-generation (3G) service launch until December to provide "global standard service." J-Phone had previously planned to launch its 3G service on 30 June.Prior to the nationwide commercial service launch in December, J-Phone...
TOKYO—Japanese wireless operator J-Phone, which is a subsidiary of Vodafone Group plc, said it was delaying the launch of its next-generation network until December citing delays in agreements on international standards surrounding its planned W-CDMA-based network. The carrier said it wanted to ensure...
TOKYO—KDDI, the second-largest telecom operator in Japan, on 1 April launched its third-generation (3G) service based on cdma2000 1x technology, entering the highly competitive Japanese high-speed data market.In Japan, NTT DoCoMo, the country’s leading operator, launched its 3G service under the brand name of...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—Safaricom, the joint venture between Telkom Kenya and Vodafone Group, has reported that the operator's subscriber base has grown from 15,000 to 440,000 since re-launch in 2000.A spokesman for the network operator said the company would like to thank subscribers for their...
GENEVA—General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) roaming exchanges (GRX) are rapidly emerging as a profitable new service niche in Europe and around the world, as mobile operators get serious about GPRS and struggle to come to grips with the complex roaming and billing issues surrounding...
TOKYO—J-Phone, a Vodafone Group mobile carrier in Japan, became the country's second-largest mobile service, exceeding au, a mobile service provided by KDDI, according to statistics released by Telecommunications Carriers Association (TCA),an industry association in Japan.TCA releases the number of mobile service subscribers by carrier...
HELSINKI, Finland—Norwegian telecom operator Telenor's competitors in Scandinavia are puzzled by the Oslo-based operator's decision to price at the high end for multimedia messaging services (MMS). Telenor intends to charge MMS users a price of US$1.40 to send images and pictures via their cell...
Nearly six months after United Kingdom-based Virgin Group and Sprint PCS announced they formed Virgin Mobile USA, the U.S. wireless industry continues to wait for the launch of the highly touted mobile virtual network operator venture.But, since the announcement last October, there has been...
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa—South African mobile network operator Vodacom confirmed that the company has as yet not accepted the offer of a mobile license in Zambia. The operator was offered a license for the fourth mobile network in Zambia in the later half of 2001....
TOKYO—KDDI, the second-largest mobile operator in Japan, launched third-generation (3G) service based on cdma2000 1x on 1 April. NTT DoCoMo, the leading mobile carrier in Japan, which launched its 3G service called FOMA in October 2001 expanded its service area to all major cities...
LONDON—Vodafone Group plc acquired an additional 2.2-percent stake in Spanish wireless partner Airtel Movil S.A. following the exercise of a put option held by Torreal S.A. The purchase increases Vodafone's interest in Airtel to 93.8 percent.Vodafone purchased controlling stakes in Airtel last year.
BOSTON, United States—South Africa's biggest cell-phone operator Vodacom may soon enter the Zambian cellular market by operating the fourth cellular network in the country. Official authorization has been granted for the license, but the final decision rests on the approval of shareholders.Vodacom is 50...
OXFORD, United Kingdom—Having sold two third-generation (3G) licenses for 619 million euros (US$538.8 million) each last year, the French government looks unlikely to attract more than one interested party for the two additional licenses it plans to sell by the end of September 2002....
